Pages

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Interview with a parent...

When I was home over Christmas 2008 I felt a bit of urgency in terms of preserving my family history. I didn't know when I'd get home again and recognised the fact that it was such a blessing I'd been able to be there twice in 4 years. My parents have memories and experiences that I want to pass down to my children. Even if those things are written in journals there's something special about seeing and hearing the person share them.

I interviewed my dad and recorded it. When I got home and got the tapes on the computer it hadn't quite worked out. There was a codec problem which was probably quite an easy fix but it freaked me out none the less. Hours of memories that wouldn't play on my computer made me worried and sick. What if that was the last time I got home?

This time I have a nifty little gadget which is made for recording and plugging straight into the computer. It has it's own super simple software and editing is done in a flash. (Thanks Stuart, it means more than you know!)

My dad is a chatterbox and quite likes the attention so I started with him. We made a list of topics and he worked down it telling me about anything it triggered. Lots of new things I hadn't heard before were shared. Then I got the idea that he knows things and has precious memories of his brother who passed away. Uncle Jim's kids have most likely not heard much of what my dad remembers about their dad. So I've tried to put together some segments of his memories of his brother especially for them.

We interviewed my husband's grandfather a while back who is now very ill. It was such an awesome experience. We were looking forward to some fun stories about my husband's dad, but grandpa misheard and started talking about his own dad and then continued down from there.

Is it possible your parents would be willing to adopt a very well-behaved 24 year old girl? ;)

Seriously, though, I wish I had thought to do this with my grandpa before he was killed. It sure would be a comfort to me now, especially since his death was so unexpected. This makes me miss him lots.

Maybe this is self-centered... But I'd ask them what their favorite memory was of me.

I did a report for school where we had to ask our parents about the day we were born. I also like hearing about old dates, or when they dated each other. I've heard "how we met" a million times, but it's still a fun story.